How will you respond to exponential technologies?

Having just got back from the 2018 Abundance 360 conference in Los Angeles, I’ve made a personal commitment to share as much of the content as I can, for one simple reason.

I want to inform you about these exponential shifts so you can better decide how to respond. And decide you must because if half of what was presented occurs, the world is going to be a very, very different place to live and work.

To kick things off, I’ve posted a 90-second clip from the opening conference video which gives you a sense of the changes coming your way over the next 2 to 20 years.

The projections are mind-boggling but don’t write them off as being fanciful. The forecasts for biotech, artificial intelligence, energy production and storage, material sciences, quantum computing, space, transport and robotics have moved from being the ideas of science fiction to the realities of science fact.

Whats more, there is more than enough evidence that the rate of technological development is now faster than at any point in our history and that this is only going to accelerate from here on.

Unbelievable eh?

However, when conference attendees such as Astro Teller, Tony Robbins, Dean Kamen, Bob Hariri and Ray Kurzweil (to name just a few) argue rationally that these presented outcomes are both inevitable and that these timelines are reasonable, it’s a safer strategy to assume they are accurate until proven otherwise.

In fact, I believe businesses that survive this revolution, will be the ones that are running scenarios today that overestimate the rate of change because they will be better prepared to take the hard decisions before their more linear competitors.

For example, they will have the foresight to sell businesses before they become disrupted. They will understand that a portfolio of small bets yields better results than a few larger ones. They will be the companies that better organise and prepare their capital, people and technologies, so they are agile and adaptable as these new futures come online.

It is important to remember that decision making at a large organisation always takes time, so is it not better to be the early birds that prepare for the worms years before they even arrive?

Of course, most leadership teams are not going to make the bold steps that are needed to ensure they survive and thrive in an exponential world. Even the CEO’s that have the required foresight will find it difficult to overcome the resistance typically applied by shareholders and boards who have grown up and become used to relatively linear advancements.

Therefore, leaders that want to benefit from exponential technologies are going to have to spend a significant amount of their time educating themselves and their stakeholders about these incredible predictions if they are to gain the necessary support to make the required changes.

Perhaps the easiest way to start preparing is to quite literally, get out of your office or your boardroom and place yourself in an environment which encourages free thinking and where it is accepted there is no such thing as a crazy idea. Turning crazy ideas into sensible strategies is a whole heap easier than turning the sensible ideas of today into exponential strategies that will protect your businesses in the future?

Here are three environments that will without question help you to accelerate your thinking.

1. Join the Abundance 360 community and start gaining daily insights into the latest exponential developments. You’d need to move quickly though as 60% of the 2019 spots are already taken. (I’m an A360 member and receive no benefits of any kind in making this suggestion)

2. Sign yourself and your team up to Singularity Universities Executive Programme. (I’ve not attended SU, but many of my colleagues have and in they have only favourable words about their experiences)

3. If you are in South Africa, then meet me at The Equinox. It’s a fantastic environment for leadership teams who are ready to have the hard debates and challenge whether their strategies stand up in this new world. (I’m CEO of The Equinox but would make the same recommendation regardless. It is truly an incredible environment for radical thinking).

Whether you decide to investigate these ideas further or explore other avenues, I wish you well. Leaders who can step outside of their day-to-day environments and who actively use others to challenge their preconceptions and ideas are, without doubt, going to increase their chance of winning.

It has never been more important to look for support to break away from linear thinking than today.

If you want more information about Abundance 360, Singularity, The Equinox or any other experiences that act as catalysts for business leaders, let’s connect and share our ideas.